A FF Story
by Michichibi
Summary: i'm discontinuing this.. or at least i'm gonna stop uploading it. i enjoy writing it so i will still be writing it but it will just be my friends that see it now. i'm sorry if anyone did in fact like what i was writing.
1. Chapter 1

_**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the plotline or any of the characters in this story. I do not claim any form of copywrite etc on this piece of work. **_

_**Chapter 1: It begins**__**…**_

The train spiralled down the tracks leading to the Sector One rail station. All was silent within, each contemplating what was about to happen. Shuddering to a stop, the train neatly pulled into the station.

It was time.

Swiftly, the group sprung into action. Leaping from the compartment they were in, they took down the guards that stood outside.

"Take that Shin-Ra bastard" one said as his foot connected with the guards head. The other was taken down by the only girl in the team at that time. A swift blow to the stomach and he was down. Following the lead of these two another three followed. A stout young man, a large well built coloured man and a smaller, yet nonetheless well built, blond haired man. The others ran ahead leaving the blond man behind.

"Come on!" the coloured guy shouted as he disappeared through the exit of the station. He began running after the group, the sound of his heavy boots just audible above the hissing noises of the train. Two more soldiers ran out to meet him with hopes of destroying and putting down any resistance. Quicker than what the guards could see the young man had drawn his sword. The large blade glimmered in the artificial lighting as it was swung down splitting the soft skin and bone of the guards. They fell and lay in a pool of their own blood. He looked down at what he had done. The blood still dripping off of the blade. Slowly he walked past the now cooling bodies. Trailing blood up the stairs, and slowly made his way up and up. The sounds of his foot steps echoing off of the walls surrounding him. His mind was focused completely on the task at hand, more and more soldiers came but all succumbed to the same fate as those before. By a gate at the end of the winding street the rest of the team waited:

"Yo!" one shouted. He was one of the younger men. Tall with dark hair and eyes. His name was Biggs. He was grinning smugly.

"Never woulda thought that an ex-SOLDIER would be here with a group like AVALANCHE" his drawl annoyed the blond man

"SOLDIER! Aren't they the enemy?" the girl asked, a small amount of fear lining her words.

"He was one of them, but he's one of us now" Biggs said, matter of factly. This appeared to calm Jessie down, even if it was just a little.

"Never caught your name" he looked straight at the blond haired man, eagerly awaiting a response. The blond man stared a while, his icy blue eyes seemed to be piercing the man's very soul.

"Cloud" the blond man said coolly.

"Ah, cool, I'm-"  
"I don't give a damn what any of your names are." Cloud said coldly "Once I've finished here and get my money I'm outta here!" with that he faced the gate once again. The girl was working hard on getting the gate open. She was kneeling next to a box filled with electrical wiring.

"Hey! I told you guys never to travel in a group!" the gruff voice came from the right of the group. The coloured man was walking quickly towards them, his annoyance evident on his face. Upon his arrival the gate pulled itself slowly open. The team ran through. Stopping before Cloud, the coloured man turned to face him his brown eyes fixed on Cloud's blue ones.

"Ex-SOLDIER huh? The names Barret. Don't mean trust ya though!" with that he turned and ran after the rest of the team. Cloud looked slowly around him, looking up at the buildings around about him emitting a low annoyed sigh. Slowly he followed after them, and walked through the gate. He trekked through the grime and waste of the slums until he reached his destination: the Mako reactor. Slowly he walked across the metal walkway leading towards the entrance. His heavy boots once again resonating in the silence.

The entrance hallway was as cold and unyielding as was expected. Pale coloured walls and flooring surrounded them. He walked through the hallway:  
"Well, hurry up." Barret growled, standing on the stairs, waiting, tapping his foot at an even pace on the cold hard flooring. The others had ran ahead, unlocking any doors that lay ahead.

"This your first time in a reactor?!" Barret asked, a little louder than was necessary, his expression smug.

"Well no" Cloud said coldly "I have been in reactors before. I did work with Shin-Ra after all" he shot a superior yet nonetheless cold look at Barret. Barret's face fell, he snapped

"That's it! Your comin' with me!" shrugging Cloud followed Barret up the remainder of the stairs. They walked through a few corridors before arriving at an elevator. Cloud hit the down button. Slowly the elevator made its way down. As well as both Cloud and Barret, Jessie was also in the elevator. Her long brown hair was tied back into a tidy ponytail and her brown eyes shone as she looked at the electrical workings of the elevator.

"…These damn reactors are suckin' all of the planets life, all the Mako, and those damn Shin-Ra don't give a damn!" Barret had been ranting for a while now, but Cloud hadn't been listening. He was leaning up against the wall of the elevator, his arms folded in front of him. He sighed. He really couldn't be bothered with Barret's eco-rant.

"Am I meant to care?" he stared coldly at Barret once again

"It's the planet I'm talkin' about here Cloud!, no lifeblood; no planet!" Cloud just looked at him. His stare reiterating what he had said before.

"I'm telling you what I told the others. Once I get my money, I'm outta here." it was obvious that what Cloud had said had affected him, but Barret controlled himself… just controlled himself.

Slowly the elevator made its way to the bottom. It was here where everything started to get difficult, interesting even. Shin-Ra grunts and all forms of machines and monsters; no doubt made in the labs at the headquarters themselves; designed specifically for guard duty plagued the hallways. Loitering, floating or just still it made no difference. They were living; one way or another; and they could be potentially dangerous.

Cloud had no doubt about his capabilities, but he knew nothing of Barret's. Barret's weapon was a gun. He had no left hand, it had been substituted for the gun. Cloud didn't know the exact reason why, neither did he care all that much, he just hoped that it was stronger than it looked. They stepped out of the elevator.

Jessie ran ahead once again. '_She__'__s either brave or stupid_' Cloud thought to himself. Picking the pace up slightly, both Cloud and Barret followed after her. It wasn't long before they found themselves confronted by a group of 'Guards' if that was what you would call them. Even the grunts themselves looked as though they had been subjected to numerous weird and potentially life threatening experiments. The full body suits they wore actually looked like it was their skin. The way in which they walked and ran was unnatural, their legs wide apart and infinitely bent at the knees. The creatures around about looked like small floating jellyfish. Their blue bodies twisting and turning whilst a set of small veins in their heads flashed, on occasion, a bright red. Cloud was the first to spring into action. Swinging his large heavy blade, he took down the grunt closest to him. He split through the skin, the creature was instantly dead. He pushed the offending victim off of his sword with his large boot clad foot. To his left Barret had started his barrage on the smaller jellyfish type creatures. Each one that took a bullet seemed to explode. It was like watching someone shoot a pellet through a water balloon. As the bullet pierced the outer shell of the creature a liquid started oozing and dripped out onto the floor. Afterwards, once the small piece of offending metal had made its way far enough through, the small creature's body blew up, sending a clear kind of gloop, veins and membrane along with it.

Swivelling around, he lifted his sword once again. Another grunt ran awkwardly towards him. Again he swung his sword down atop the creature. The size and weight of the sword was cumbersome. That meant that the speed of the one wielding the sword was somewhat impaired and the speed at which the blade flew was also slower. Because of this he narrowly missed his target and struck the floor instead. A dull ringing came from the blade whilst the initial 'clunk' sound from the blade hitting the floor echoed off of the high ceilings.

"Shit" Cloud said to himself. As quickly as the sword would allow he pulled it up off of the floor. By this time the creature has begun its awkward advance once again. Raising its arm it started adjusting its skin like blue suit, hitting a few buttons, readying its attack. A blue ray blasted from the end of the creature's arm. Cloud dodged and another of the small jellyfish type creatures took the hit instead. He swung his sword up, catching the grunt in the side. He pulled the sword through. This time the creature fell away easily. It slid down the blade and landed in a heap on the floor. By now the constant ringing of Barret's gun had stopped. Good, there were no more. Turning Cloud looked upon the other man. He was breathing heavily and had a few small scratches but was otherwise fine.

"Haha, ain't got nothin' on me!" he said happily as he patted his gun hand. Cloud rolled his eyes and once again proceeded down the stairs. They met very little resistance. Anything that did come their way was dealt with quickly and without hesitation.

Before they even reached the bottom of the stairs, they met a different kind of enemy. A machine. There were two. They were waiting just before the door that Cloud and Barret needed to go through. The outer bodies of these mechanical monstrosities were a highly polished green metal. They had two large metal legs similar in shape to a duck, only without the webbed feet. The front of these machines was an uncovered quad-rocket launcher. These large metal guards began their advance before both men had reached the bottom. The machines simultaneously fired. Bursting through the smoke two missiles came rapidly in the men's direction. They couldn't dodge it in such a small space. Barret instinctively began firing at the machines. It was clear that his attacks were doing nothing; they were made of metal after all. '_Idiot__'_ Cloud thought and; as he jumped over the stairs banister ; he grabbed Barret by the collar of his jacket dragging him with him.


	2. Chapter 2

_**DISCLAIMER:**_I do not own the plotline or any of the characters in this story. I do not claim any form of copywrite etc on this piece of work.

_**Chapter 2: BOOM!**_

They landed heavily on the floor below. Shards of metal flew here and there as the missiles hit the stairs and exploded, causing one or two of the stairs to be blown off.

"Shit man, whatcha do that for?!" Cloud gave Barret a look of incredulity, _'you're joking, right?'_. They hid under the stairs a little longer. '_These machines can stand up to physical attacks' _Cloud was lost in thought _'so straight forward attacks are out of the question' _The heavy 'clunk clunk' of metal on concrete echoed closer and closer. Barret looked over to his hired help. He looked calm, how could he look so calm!

"Hey!" he shouted "What are you doing?!" Cloud remained silent. Annoyed, Barret stood up once again. He took a step forward but Cloud grabbed the back of his trouser leg.

"You're attacks aren't working" he said calmly; simply; bluntly but never once taking his eyes off of the floor. "We have to come up with a different approach" Crestfallen, Barret crouched back down.

"Ok, got any bright ideas, Spiky?" although he was making a joke his tone of voice suggested he was sulking slightly. Cloud glanced back at Barret. Truthfully he couldn't think of a thing, but he wasn't about to tell him that. It was taking a long time for the machines to come to them, something wasn't right. _'Wait a minute…' _'CRASH!' another explosion came from behind them, the machines had changed course, they were attacking from behind.

"Shit" Cloud muttered to himself once again, as he and Barret swiftly got out of the way. Both men were caught in the aftermath of the explosion and the force sent them flying forward. They landed heavily.

"Damn man!" Barret was cursing. But cursing at what? The machines? Himself? Maybe both maybe neither.

"Have ya got an idea yet?!" he shouted over to Cloud. The answer was still no. he looked around about himself. There was nothing really around about that could help. Over the ringing in his ears and the noise from the blast, he heard the sound of glass on concrete. He looked to his side. A small smile played on his lips _'How could I have forgotten that?'_ next to him sat two glowing green orbs. Materia. He equipped both. He could feel the power coursing through him.

"Barret!" he shouted "Move!" concentrating, he stretched his right arm out in front of him. Realising what was about to happen Barret quickly got out of the way. A charge left Cloud's arm. It raced forward faster than what the eye could follow, faster than what the machines could follow. It hit one of the machines. Slowly it stopped its advance. Smoke started bellowing out of the back and a small explosion signified that it had short circuited and, inevitably, blown up. '_Jackpot'_ this worked. Cloud hoped there weren't too many of these. Using materia was difficult, it caused a lot of strain on both the body and the mind. Even just using the spell Bolt took its toll on him. The second machine fired again. As both men were separated, it fired only at Barret. Again he moved quickly out of the way. Cloud once again concentrated and repeated that which he had done before. The same happened again, it stopped dead, appeared to shudder slightly as its system shut down, and blew up. A cloud of smoke escaped from the body. These machines appeared not to like having several thousand volts sent through its system.

Barret seemed to have taken more damage during that encounter as he was patching himself up. He glanced over at Cloud. Cloud seemed paler than before, his breathing seemed heavier

"Hey man, you ok?!" Barret shouted over to him. Cloud didn't say anything, didn't even look over.

"Yo Spiky! I'm talkin' t' you!" Cloud took a deep breath and steadied himself. He glared back at Barret, icy blue eyes sharply piercing Barret more than what his sword could have done at that moment. A small, quick nod of the head signified to keep moving. They moved swiftly past the now smouldering piles of metal and through the door at the bottom of the stairs.

They entered a room. There was nothing in it other than a set of ladders fixed to a pipe that lead down to the level below. Jessie was waiting for them there. Hopping across a small gap in the floor, they met up with her.

"It's down this way." she pointed down the steps. All three made their way down. At the bottom their feet made contact with a large metal pipe. The area was dimmer than above, there weren't many lights on these lower levels it seemed. At the end of the pipe there was a platform.

"I'll wait here" Jessie said "the rest is up to you" Barret nodded. Both men continued on. Another set of steps led down to yet another pipe and after this, one last set of steps leading to the bottom most level of the reactor. Upon reaching the ground the men checked their equipment. '_Just in case'_. Everything was in order. Calmly they made their way along the walkway. It was practically silent. The only sound that could be heard, other than the humming of the reactor, was the noise their boots made as they hit the ground. The silence, the sheer emptiness of the area was ominous, something was up.

"Keep your guard up." Cloud said to Barret in a hushed voice

"Yeah, like ya need t' tell me that." Barret replied. A few feet a head of them was the reactor. A mass of pipes and cables appeared to spew out of the back of a large red compressor. A little ways in front of the compressor, something shiny caught Cloud's eye. Another piece of materia.

"Interesting..." he said to himself "Curative materia, could be useful" he slid the restore materia into his pocket.

"You set the bomb" Barret said to Cloud when they were standing in front of the compressor.

"Shouldn't you do it?" Cloud asked calmly, never once taking his eyes off of the compressor.

"NO! I gotta make sure you don't pull anything, damnit!". Cloud sighed and shook his head. He held out his hand for the bomb. He attached the bomb with no great difficulty. He was about to set off the timer when a mechanical voice said

"That is as far as you go!". Above them was a large machine made from red, orange and yellow metal. It was about ten foot tall and shaped like a scorpion.

"Great, just perfect." Cloud said sarcastically. Another machine that was all they needed. Cloud still had his materia equipped from the last fight. He really didn't want to have to be using it again so soon. He still felt mentally drained. The mechanical scorpion jumped down from its hiding spot and landed a little ways in front of them. The space was very limited and so it was balanced precariously on the barriers that lined the walkway. _'Perhaps we could get it to fall into the Mako' _this was the first thing that ran through Cloud's mind. The Guard Scorpion launched itself at the men. As quickly as the machine was coming to them, the men dashed underneath and got out to the walkway.

"Damnit" Cloud hissed under his breath. Things did not look good. First off they had now lost their advantage. The machine had taken over the larger area of their current battle ground, forcing them onto the thinner walkway. Secondly the machine was no longer teetering dangerously close to the edge making it somewhat impossible to knock it into the Mako below.

"We'll have to use the materia again" Cloud said quietly to Barret who was standing directly in front of him. Barret remained silent, but nodded to signify that he had heard. Barret knew that this would leave Cloud slightly more vulnerable as he needed time to prepare the attack. He would have to draw the machines attention to himself, this much he knew. That itself, however, was much easier said than done. This enemy wasn't the same as the others. This was an elite guard. It was probably programmed to be smarter than the other grunts. Barret went at the machine with all that he had. Firing off round after round from his gun hand. He paid careful attention to the little bar on the gun. This little bar was special. It told him when his gun was charged enough to dish out a much more powerful blow than what the normal bullets could handle.

Cloud had to concentrate, he knew he had to concentrate. But the fact that the Guard Scorpion kept firing at him made this all the more difficult. The huge machine began its attack once again. It climbed up onto the banister and, with about the same amount of balance than that of a cat, tore forward aiming directly at Cloud. Cloud had no where to go. There was no where to go either side of him and going under the machine was no longer an option as its large laser ended tail was blocking the way. All the while Barret had still been firing at the machine. The gauge on his gun had been steadily growing all the while. It had now reached the top.

Holding his gun arm steady he took aim on the back of the machine. He held down a button, a large blast began formulating at the end. He had his target in sight. Releasing the button, the blast left the end of the gun. It struck the machine causing it to stumble slightly, also causing it to halt its attack. It raised its laser ended tail

"Don't attack it whilst its tail is up!" Cloud shouted. He saw this as a perfect chance to run underneath the overbearing piece of metal. He was midway beneath the creature before he realised that the giant tail had begun to swing back underneath. It caught him by surprise . Before he could even dodge, the spike at the end caught him just at the bottom of his rib cage. He let out a small cry of pain, but that was all that he was going to give. The spike hadn't gone too deep. It was deep enough, however, to have broken the ribs though, deep enough for it to bleed heavily and freely. He fell to his knees, one hand still clutching the swords handle for balance the other pressed on the wound. The broken ribs made it hard to breathe, the rapid loss of blood was making his vision blurry.

Barret had noticed what had happened. He would have laughed at his hired help's incompetence, at the fact he had been hit, had it not been so severe. He knew he would regale the tale with his team mates at a later date, if he lived, but now was not the time. He began his barrage on the machine once again. The bullets struck the machine but seemed to be doing very little damage. He was at least drawing the things attention away from Cloud once again. He was giving the wounded man time to regain his composure and, hopefully, time to draw up the power needed to use the materia. Cloud was beginning to feel dizzy, he was wasting to much time, too much blood had been lost already and there was still an enemy to be beaten. He stood up, using his sword too keep him balanced, he breathed deeply; outstretched his arm once again and began focusing solely on the spell Bolt. It wasn't long before the magical lightning erupted from his hand. It hit the machine dead on, freezing the creature in its tracks. He wasn't sure that one strike would be enough.

But it was, the machine must have taken much more damage from Barret's attacks than was originally believed. The machine suddenly shuddered to a stop. Small explosions came from inside the creature's body. And then it froze. Barret edged slowly away from the machine. He was unsure if it really had malfunctioned, and if so, would it blow up then and there? Cloud collapsed. The loss of blood had been too much. He wasn't unconscious, that is to say he hadn't lost consciousness yet, but he was incredibly light headed. He groaned out loud, he no longer cared who heard him, he had been the idiot, he had been the one to get caught out by the machine and now the fact that he was weakened and in such a sorry state made him feel all the more idiotic.

"Hey man, you don' look so good" Barret had made his way over, he obviously deemed it safe to pass the smouldering heap that caused this mess. '_No shit, genius'_ Cloud mentally insulted the man who hired him. He hadn't the strength to say it out loud. Hadn't the strength to do anything really. He blacked out.

Barret walked back to the compressor and started the bomb. Ten minutes should be enough to get both him and Cloud out of this reactor he thought. He quickly walked back over to the injured man and, carefully, lifted him into his arms. Barret couldn't help but notice that he was much lighter than expected. He also grabbed the overly large sword before he went.


	3. Chapter 3

_**DISCLAIMER:**_I do not own the plotline or any of the characters in this story. I do not claim any form of copywrite etc on this piece of work._**  
**_

__

_**Chapter 3: Enter the Turks…!**_

"What the…?!" the words exploded from the red head's mouth as he entered his office. It was little after 6:30 am and already there was a rather thick looking file and a video tape on his desk.

"Alright! Who pawned off paperwork on me!" he said aggressively to himself. Quickly and elegantly he made his way to the, what he saw as, offending items upon his desk. What he didn't notice from the doorway was the letter that was attached to the file. He sighed, he recognised that handwriting straight away. It belonged to his superior and boss, Tseng. He sat upon the desk, tearing open the letter he couldn't help but think '_what now?' _he held the letter in one hand, his other placed upon the table for support, and squinted at the letter. He sighed again, it was too early to be attempting to discern his superior's annoying loopy handwriting.

"These are files about an explosion last night in Sector One. According to surveillance cameras in the vicinity at the time in question, the perpetrators appear to be a rebel faction from Sector Seven, the details of the members are enclosed in the file. You are to investigate AND ultimately quash all further attempts on the companies well being. I have given Rude a similar letter as he is to accompany you during this mission.

Tseng."

Reno yawned, the note had been as boring as he expected it to be. A small smirk played on his lips _'what no kisses?'_ he thought jokingly, he believed his was his God given right to reprimand his boss for this. He laughed to himself at his little personal joke.

Rude was a little ways away from Reno's office door. He could hear the red head's laughter, truthfully he didn't want to know what he was laughing at this time. The last time he asked had been a big mistake, he could remember it vividly. They were sitting in the lounge after a hard day's work, just relaxing, when all of a sudden his partner started sniggering to himself. Apparently Reno had been remembering a particularly bloody interrogation, one in which he appeared to be having as much fun as he was remembering it that day. Though this disturbed Rude, he decided to say nothing on the matter to the red head and also silently vowed never to ask again. He walked into Reno's office. The hyperactive red head had stopped laughing to himself, a large grin was pasted to his pale thin face, his bright blue eyes shone. Rude was very glad of his sunglasses at this point. His eyes may well have been giving a questioning look and that would have broken his vow.

"Yo, mornin'!" Reno said brightly. Rude nodded his reply, he wasn't one for talking. It was thankful that his partner and long time friend was. He did more than enough talking for the both of them. Looking to the desk, Rude saw the file and videotape that had been mentioned in his letter from Tseng.

Reno picked up the videotape. He turned it over in his hand for a while before getting up and placing it in the VCR. After hitting play he sat back upon his desk. Rude stood next to his partner, his eyes fixed to the screen. It was the surveillance tape from the reactor. They watched in almost complete silence. At the end, Reno gave a sigh of relief:

"That was dull, no?" he had one knee bent, foot on the desk. One hand on his knee; his head upon his hand. The boredom was evident in his expression. His free hand reached for the file that remained untouched on his desk. Absentmindedly he flipped it open. What looked thick from a distance actually turned out to be relatively empty. A few stills from the surveillance video that showed both men's faces plus that of various others who they guessed were perhaps lower stationed members in the group, a few profiles, but no names for either of the men and a few more written instructions.

"So basically we gotta find out who these scumbags are?" Reno said thoughtfully, his tall bald friend said nothing

"And eliminate them as soon as, yo" made sense. It sounded simple and, to Reno, sounded boring. As far as they knew, one of the men had been injured, and injured badly at that, the other appeared to be of very little threat. So why did they want the Turks on this job? Obviously they wouldn't send any grunts, seeing as they were so easily torn apart, but what about members of SOLDIER?

"It's cause we're better!" the red head's sudden little outburst didn't surprise Rude, they were quite normal in fact. Rude walked over to the VCR and ejected the tape. Still facing the television he said:

"We should get moving" the red head looked up from the file. A grin had taken firm hold over his face

"'Bout time too yo!" and with that he threw the file back onto the desk, bounded across the room and was at the door of the office before his partner had even turned around.

They walked quickly through the dimly lit parking lot.

"Yo, where'd ya think we should be goin' first?!" the red head shouted, his voice echoing in the otherwise silent lot. He was a little ways in front of his tall partner. Rude remained quiet for a short while. It wasn't really a difficult decision to make:

"The reactor." Reno turned and smiled at his partner

"Was just thinkin' the same thing" they kept up their steady pace; not once breaking out in a sweat; until they reached a set of metal stairs in the back. They climbed these and exited out of a door that lead to the roof. Waiting for them there was a slim line, shiny black helicopter. This was an unmarked helicopter that they often used in their line of work. The less aware their target was of their arrival the better; plus it looked really cool. Reno effortlessly jogged towards the driver's side of the cockpit. Throwing open the door, he jumped into the seat and started the motor. Rude had slid into the seat next to his red headed partner and had buckled up just as the copter had begun its ascent.

There were a few members of SOLDIER at the blast site, however the majority seemed to be grunts. Each one sifting through the rubble, looking for any type of discernible clue as to who the perpetrators were or for any sign of life. They were being watched over silently by a senior member of SOLDIER. His name was James. He was a second class SOLDIER. He was leaning on the barrier of the old metal walkway, his arms folded in front of him. His eyes were closed and a frown creased his brow. His helmet had been removed due to the heat. This enabled anyone who was looking a chance to see what the commanding officer looked like. His dark brown hair had been shaved back into a tidy crew cut. His face, though stern, was remarkably handsome.

"Uh… sir?" James opened his eyes. He stared at the grunt standing in front of him. His dull grey eyes, often betraying the green mako induced glint, beckoned the grunt to say his piece.

"… There are two men over there, uh… they claim to be Turks-"

"Shit..! What do the Turks want here?!" James exclaimed gruffly, perhaps a little louder than he should have done because Reno appeared to react slightly to the man's comment, or maybe he was just bored, fidgety and agitated at being told to wait. James sighed and pushed himself up off of the barrier. He walked over to the men.

"Yo, how long do ya intend on keepin' us waitin'!?" the red head called over. James sighed again.

"What do the Turks want with a blown reactor?" his voice was steady, his face rock set, though he didn't feel so at ease inside. He knew what the Turks were capable of. Reno appeared to be looking the young man up and down, Rude the same. Members of SOLDIER weren't really meant to remove their helmets while they were on the job, however this man had removed his and, what was more, he had kept it off even when coming to talk to those in a position higher than himself. '_What's this, does he think we aren't the real thing or something?' _Rude thought to himself.

"Where is your helmet?" Rude asked simply and rather bluntly. This made the man fidget slightly.

"Um…"

"Never mind that" the red head had spoken up again. " In answer to your question, we're here 'cause we were told to come here, nuthin' more nuthin' less" James was surprised, this Turk was different.

"You needn't know the details, but basically we wanna know what you have found out so far. Now make our job a little easier and spill." maybe he wasn't as different as James first thought. James hesitated slightly

"… nothing much really, the blast pretty much wiped everything away. We have found a few pieces of a rudimentary bomb; timer, a few wires and one fairly melted hard plastic casing; it was definitely home made… but other than that…" he held out his hands and shrugged reiterating that they knew nothing more.

"Tch, what a waste of time this was." Reno said absentmindedly, he folded his arms in front of him and appeared to become lost in thought. Rude was shaking his head, it was true that this had become a waste of time. James didn't like the looks the two men suddenly had on their faces, quickly he said:  
"You can feel free to look around yourselves too, if you want" Rude remained expressionless, Reno, however, seemed somewhat taken aback  
"We can "feel free"?" his voice incredulous, "Like we actually need your permission!" he stormed past the now flabbergasted man.

"Excuse my partner" Rude said calmly and slid past the man as well.

By the time Rude had caught up to Reno, the red head was muttering all forms of obscenities about the young soldier. Rude felt kind of sorry for the young man.

"You can be so uncouth at times, don't you know" Rude lightly reprimanded his temperamental partner. Reno shrugged and continued to proceed through the rubble. Rude looked around, James was right, there really wasn't anything left. They must have looked around for at least an hour. They worked in silence, amazingly this included Reno too. Out of no where a PHS began to ring. This made both men jump slightly as neither were expecting it. Reno pulled his PHS out of his pocket, flipping it open he looked at the name on the screen. He let out a small groan. There on the little green screen was the name of his boss, Tseng. He brought the small phone to his ear:  
"Yo!"

"Reno?" Tseng's voice seemed distant. The reception next to this busted reactor must have gone with the explosion

"Speakin', whatcha wantin' boss-man?" the red head jokingly teased his superior. Tseng sighed

"I need you to come back, just you, we found her, need you to pick her up." Reno knew exactly who Tseng was talking about.

"Go to the church in the Sector Five slums, I have arranged for three grunts to meet you there. Have Rude continue the investigation." Tseng paused. Adding in a less formal tone

"There was another explosion, you two need to pick up the pace slightly"

"Shit… ok." with that he hung up and closed over his phone. The unexpected news of another explosion annoyed Reno _'how the hell could they slip under our noses again!" _ It baffled the red head. What annoyed him more was the fact that they had grossly underestimated them.

"Rude!, we got a problem" the tall man looked over

"What?" his voice still remained emotionless

"That was Tseng, there's been another explosion." Rude's face fell momentarily and, just as quickly, he regained composure again.

"Plus they found her, I gotta go pick her up." his partner gave him a questioning look over his glasses

"What about me?"

"You gotta continue what we're doin' here. Sorry man" Rude shrugged and, as Reno walked away, once again began looking around the rubble.


	4. Chapter 4

_**DISCLAIMER: **_I do not own the plotline or any of the characters in this story (except from those that I personally made up). I do not claim any form of copywrite etc on this piece of work.

_**Chapter 4: the Ancient**_

If there was one thing Reno hated more than anything else, it was waiting and he seemed to be doing a lot of that today. He noticed it was always for some stupid grunt! He was leaning up against the wall of the church in the Sector Five slums. His eyes closed, his long fingers drumming away on his arm, foot tapping at an even pace on the ground as he grew more and more impatient. _'Where. The hell. ARE THEY!?'_ he could hear voices coming from within the church. His target wasn't alone. He would have gone in alone, but something was telling him to wait. _'Anyway'_ he thought _'a group of people is always more intimidating than just one'_ he heard footsteps coming from the side of him. Opening his eyes he turned his head and glared at them. The three men visibly froze, they had pissed the Turk off and they knew it.

"Where were you!?" Reno said loudly, though not loud enough for those inside the church to hear, his anger evident in his voice. The man in front hesitated slightly

"S-sorry sir… we-"

"Whatever, just hurry up." he cut them off, couldn't be bothered listening to their excuses. Anyway, its not like he could really reprimand them about being late, seeing as there were times when he himself was late, and this was more often than you'd be left to believe.

He pushed himself up off of the wall and turned to the doors. Pushing them open he walked into the shabby little church, the three grunts following close behind. The two had their backs to them. The girl was the target but there was something familiar about the man that was there too. They both turned to face Reno and the other men. The girl had long mousey brown hair. It was tied back with a pink ribbon, in a high pony tail and was braided in one long braid down her back. Her eyes were a shade of bright green. She wore a pink dress and a small red dyed denim jacket. The other was the man from the reactor's surveillance tape. _'Jackpot! Two birds with one stone. Definitely makes my job easier'_ a small smile played on his lips. He restrained himself. A Turk was meant to be an emotionless killer, if he was to go around brandishing a huge grin all the time, he would lose the intimidating edge that the uniform gave him. The man walked towards them

"I don't know who you are-" he stopped and looked suddenly confused

"Wait a minute, I know you, that uniform. You're a Turk!" the small smile had become a smirk

"Looks like we have a weird one here Reno!" one of the grunts said. Reno was confused _'From the video it appeared as though this guy had been badly injured, but this is only the next day and he's up and around. Who is this guy?'_

The girl had made her way over to the man

"Cloud, could you get me home" Cloud looked at her

"You _DO_ everything don't you?" he nodded. The girl ran to the back of the church

"There's an exit at the back, come on!" Cloud followed. Reno sighed, they were making his job difficult again, but then again this was how he liked it. The smile that he had been restraining suddenly burst forth.

"Great! Things were getting boring. 'Bout time things livened up!" then he remembered something. The mans eyes had a strange green glint to them, much like that of the young soldier James.

"Those were Mako eyes" he said thoughtfully as he proceeded onwards, straight through the flowerbed. Noticing his mistake he ran back and said

"Don't step on the flowers!" the grunts looked at him in absolute disbelief

"But you already stepped on them!" one shouted

"They're all ruined" another said

"You're gonna get holy hell" the third proclaimed, but none the less they obeyed orders and followed on after the red head.

Cloud and the girl had run quite the distance before Reno and the soldiers had even gotten to the back of the church

"Shoot! Don't let the Ancient get away!" Reno shouted at the grunts. Automatically they started firing at the pair, whether they were meaning to miss or they just weren't all that good with their weapons they just couldn't hit either of them. The two managed fairly well to dodge the bullets that came their way. However after a while the girl lost her footing and fell down off of the side.

"Aeris!" Cloud shouted as the young woman fell. She rolled down a fallen wall and landed with a bump on the floor of the bottom most level. Picking herself up she found herself face to face with one of the three grunts. Her eyes widened in terror. Screaming she yelled,

"Cloud, help!" but he was too late. The grunt had grabbed her. In her surprise she had dropped the guard stick she was carrying. The grunt lifted her off of the ground slightly. She struggled against his strength, but it was too much for her. Out of nowhere a barrel fell. It landed on top of the grunts head, rendering him unconscious. Cloud was up in the rafters, there were several barrels there he just had to know when to push them. Aeris shuffled backwards. Grabbing her stick she made her way quickly over to the stairs leading up. Before she could even proceed to go up the stairs though, another grunt had found her. Again she called for help. This time Cloud was ready. Another barrel was pushed and found its way to the grunts head. Quickly Aeris stepped over the now broken body, and ran the rest of the way. As she reached the very top most of the stairs another grunt appeared behind her. Cloud noticed just in time and another barrel was sent flying over the edge. It rolled down the stairs and caught the grunt, forcing him to fall back down the stairs along with the barrel. He lay in a crumpled mess next to the first grunt. Reno looked on in utter disbelief. What the hell was going on?! Was this really the quality of Shin-Ra's army? He began to chase them himself _'if you want something done right, do it yourself!'_ but it was too late. The pair had already escaped out of a hole in the roof.

"Damnit!" he cursed at no one in particular, he was going to get into trouble for this later.

Storming out of the church, leaving the grunts behind, he looked up to the roof of the church. He wasn't sure if they were still there or not. Had they already begun the daunting slog across the rooftops and were now effectively out of his reach? If they weren't they were being incredibly quiet. This hadn't been the first time she had evaded them. In fact she was very good at it. She had been running from them as long as he could remember, even longer than he had worked as a Turk. He dawdled back along the dusty road. He really didn't feel like reporting in now. The roads were quiet. The locals appeared to be avoiding him, not even the thieves and bandits came close. It didn't bother Reno, it was, in fact, a handy perk the uniform offered at times, and now was definitely one of those times.

After what seemed like an hour, Reno found himself back at headquarters. No target meant he had definitely failed his mission. Stopping at the base of the stairs leading into the building, he looked up to the top of the sixty plus story building. The walk back seemed to had done nothing to his mood. An unusual frown had taken over the red head's face, he sighed and began, again, to walk up the stairs into the building.

"Excuse me sir!" the receptionist called as he walked past.

"Please sir! If you have no appointment with the company I can't let you through here!" she had gotten out of her seat and had ran in front of Reno, hoping to hinder him and procure some form of identification or appointment from the angered red head. Her co-worker across from her had seen the red head's angered expression as he walked through the front door, she knew from the uniform that he was a Turk. She feared for her new co-worker's life. As quickly as she could she got up and ran towards her. Smiling sweetly at Reno, she pulled the other out of the way, the whole time apologising and explaining she was new. Reno just sighed again, he pulled his ID out of his pocket and showed it to the newbie. She let out a little yelp of surprise and began apologising too.

"Whatever" he muttered and waved them away dismissively, he couldn't be bothered with them right now. This is why he hated using the front entrance. It had only seemed to further his bad mood. Walking away he heard the senior receptionist explain that those in the blue suits were Turks, and that they could be dangerous.

Waiting next to one of the glass elevators, Tseng had watched the entire ordeal with the receptionists. He chuckled quietly to himself. Catching the red head's eye, he beckoned for him to come across. The Wutain could tell there was something up, there was no target and there was no cheesy grin plastered to Reno's face plus he had used the front door, instead of the side door. He was about to enquire when Reno shook his head

"Those grunts were bloody useless yo!" Tseng gave him a questioning look.

"Every one of them were taken out!" this surprised Tseng, was she stronger than was reported. Reno had read the surprise that had shown momentarily in his boss' eyes.

"There was an ex member of SOLDIER with her, recognised the green glow in his eyes see, same bastard that blew up the reactor too!" by this time they were in the elevator, making their way slowly up the building. Tseng shook his head sadly. This; though unexpected that two of their targets somehow knew one another; was looking troublesome.

"It doesn't matter." this was not what Reno had been expecting. He gave Tseng a quizzical look

"Why?"

"The President wants us to 'release' the support cables attached to the pillar in Sector Seven. We'll be getting rid of the rebel faction AVALANCHE that way." Tseng's face was emotionless but something in his voice indicated that he really didn't approve. Reno didn't seem to notice all that much, he was just pleased that he didn't seem to be getting into any sort of bother for messing up, a small smile had shown up once again on the red head's lips. He chose not to pursue the matter further. His mood improved from then on.

No sooner than he had arrived at HQ, Reno was leaving again. The copter's blades had begun to turn as soon as he and Tseng had stepped out of the door. Tseng took the passenger seat whilst Reno squeezed himself through the gap in the seats into the back seat. The pilot was female. Her hair was long and was a dyed redy-brown colour. Like Tseng, she was also from Wutai, or was at least of Wutain descent. She too wore the blue suit of the Turks. Her grey eyes focused solely on the controls as she manoeuvred the helicopter off of the helipad.

"Alright Michiyo?" Reno leant onto the back of her chair. Turning her head slightly she smiled at the red headed Turk, blushing slightly. It was a known fact that she liked the red head.

"Uh huh, never better" she replied cheerily and smiled again.

"You better sit back though, and strap yourself in. I'm about to take off." he gave her a mock salute, sat back and did as she suggested.

"You seem pretty happy today" Tseng said to her

"Hehe, really? I guess it's because they say it'll rain today." she smiled again. She was a weird one, loved the rain, was probably the only female helicopter pilot the Turks had to offer and was a self-proclaimed 'best damn pilot ever!'. Smoothly the helicopter took off.

"Ok, where to?" she asked.

"Weren't you told?" Tseng asked, a little concerned. She shook her head, her bottom lip pouted slightly

"hmm… nope. Can't recall getting the location. All they said was," she put on a mock haughty tone

"'Get a helicopter ready, you will be given details by Tseng when he arrives'" she paused, looking thoughtful.

"… yup that sounds about right" she laughed quietly. Tseng gave her a small smile. Reno was laughing hysterically in the back seat.

"We're going to Sector Seven." nodding she tilted the copters joystick to the left and proceeded in the direction of Sector Seven.


	5. Chapter 5

_**DISCLAIMER: **_I do not own the plotline or any of the characters in this story (except from those that I personally made up). I do not claim any form of copywrite etc on this piece of work._**  
**_

_**Chapter 5: Another Explosion!**_

"Keep her steady, Michiyo" Tseng said softly, he was looking concerned. The red head's plan had to be one of the craziest he'd heard in a while.

"Roger that" she chewed her bottom lip as she concentrated hard. She didn't want to cause the helicopter to suddenly tip slightly to the side as Reno was now balanced, a little precariously, on the outside of the helicopter. She couldn't have him falling off, not at this altitude. Michiyo slid open her window. The wind instantly caught her hair causing it to blow about in front of her face. Holding it back she shouted out the window

"You alright out there!" her voice was just audible above the copter's blades. Reno looked over, a huge grin on his face,

"Great thanks!" he replied

"Though I'd feel a great deal better if you were actually payin' attention to what you were doin'!" blushing she gave a shaky laugh and pulled her head back into the helicopter's cockpit.

The plan was that Reno would be the one to set the 'plate release', or timed bomb, and, if necessary, put down any opposition. He was to jump from the helicopter when Michiyo had it positioned over the platform and get out just as quick. Tseng on the other hand was aware that the Ancient had been seen with the man from the bombing of the reactor, so he guessed that she may still be with them. He was going to go and pick her up and take her back with them.

They were nearing their destination. Before Reno had left the helicopter, Tseng had handed him a small in ear radio. There was a small microphone that was attached to the collar of Reno's jacket. This enabled Tseng to be able to keep in contact when they split up to do their respective missions. As soon as they were in the pillar's proximity, a great deal of gunfire hailed them. Fearing they'd be hit, Michiyo swerved the helicopter out of the way. She could hear Reno's swearing coming from Tseng's radio and muttered to herself

"Sorry Reno" but she didn't want them to be hit, she didn't want the helicopter going down, it would mean trouble for them all. Beside Michiyo, Tseng was trying hard to calm the red head down, he didn't seem to be having much luck. She held a hand out for the radio. Surprised, Tseng handed it to her.

"Sorry about that, but had I stayed on course you may well have had a bullet through your _head_ or something!" she said in a slightly raised voice, never once taking her eyes away from the view outside the windscreen, her voice was unusually firm with Reno.

Reno stood in silence as he took in what she had said. Shaking his head he said:  
"Well be bloody well careful next time!" and he ended the transmission. Looking down he saw who it was that was firing at them. The man with the gun arm from the reactor '_interesting, that's both of them today'_ no sooner had he thought that than two others showed up. Cloud and another girl that he hadn't yet come across. The girl was a little shorter than Cloud. She had knee length dark brown hair. She wore a black miniskirt and a small white tank top. The man with the gun arm was momentarily distracted by the arrival of his companions and so Michiyo tilted the helicopter's joystick forward so that the nose swooped down. Jumping from the helicopter, Reno landed gracefully onto the platform. Quickly he ran to the control panel situated next to the pillar and placed and set up the timer on the bomb.

"And with that done, that's a mission accomplished folks!" he said as he pushed the button to start the timer.

"Cloud, please, can you stop it!?" the girl shouted

"Oh, we can't have that. Can't have anyone getting in the way." he said silkily, a wide smile present on his lips. He turned to face them and unclipped his EMR from the strap on his arm. He flicked it sharply causing it to extend to its fullest length. The girl attacked first. She flew into him, fist raised ready to land it full on into his face. Quickly he sidestepped her. Raising his arm, he pushed a small button on the EMR's handle sending a small electric charge down the metal part of the weapon. He brought it down and into the girl's stomach. The electricity struck her petite frame causing her to cry out in pain. She fell to her knees, her body still twitching as the electrical charge left her body. He raised the EMR once again. Aiming for a knock out blow to her head, he swung the EMR back down. All that was seen after that was a glint of metallic silver steel. A large blade stopped the EMR from going any further.

"Leave. Tifa. Alone" Cloud growled at the red head. Their eyes locked, glaring, the hatred obvious in the blond man's icy blue ones. Tifa was no longer in between the two men. She had been moved and now stood shaking, clinging to a banister with one hand, next to the stairs. Barret stood, his gun arm raised and pointed directly at Reno's head.

"Seems I'm in a bit of a pinch, no?" he said, an underlay of sarcasm lining his voice. He continued to smile.

Quicker than what the eye could see he had pushed Cloud back; with a peculiar amount strength that shocked the blond… Reno wasn't exactly the biggest man, he was quite scrawny really; and ducked away from the gun aimed at his head. He leapt backwards out of the way. This was going to be harder than originally thought. He had set the timer for five minutes. He glanced back to where Tifa was standing. She had collapsed again. She was on her knees, hugging herself trying to stop the electric induced shaking, a small pool of sick dripped through the metal railings just in front of her. Following the red head's line of vision, Cloud briefly turned his head. Noticing that Tifa was worse off than originally believed, he motioned for Barret to help her.

"… leave him to me." he said as the coloured man backed away from the fray, his gun still raised. Reno was standing next to the panel where the bomb had been set up. Two minutes had already past he needed to finish this soon. _'An ex-member of SOLDIER, interesting'_ his eyes had gained a psychotic glint, he was gonna finish this in at least a minute and he was going to extract as much pleasure from it as he could.

Cloud charged at the red head, his sword was raised. He swung it as quickly as he could. Reno neatly jumped backwards. The sword nicked him slightly in the arm as it swung through the air. Cloud was faster than he had expected. Reno gripped his arm, he attempted to gauge the amount of damage caused. Though the wound was bleeding freely, the damage was minimal. Ducking and weaving through the blonde's never ending stream of attacks, the red head made his way gracefully towards Cloud. As he got closer, he again pushed the button on the EMR. He wanted to hit this bastard, and he wanted him to feel it! He thrust the end of his electrically charged weapon into the blonde's stomach. The pain passed all through Cloud's body; if it affected him, he didn't show it. Cloud swung his sword at Reno once again. The red head couldn't get away fast enough. The sword pierced the skin, slicing deeply into his side. The red head winced. He grimaced, the pain was excruciating, but he wasn't giving Strife the pleasure of seeing him in pain. The time was running out quickly, he knew that, but there was no way that the blond was going to allow him to leave quietly. Making it appear as though he had lowered his guard, Reno clutched his wound. It was now or never. He had to get out of there. Quickly he charged his EMR. Holding it close to his side, he waited for the opportune moment. Cloud once more raised his sword. He was going to deal the final blow and he wanted it to be a good one. He was standing over the red head. He believed that Reno's defence was down after that last attack. He leaned in, thrusting the sword with all his might. At the last moment Reno raised his left arm and stopped the overly large chunk of metal. The blade went through his arm, breaking through the skin and muscle; cracking the bone. Reno was becoming delirious. He had lost a lot of blood and this further injury did not help. The pain, however, did not stop him from finishing. Quicker than what the eye could see he lunged in at the blond and struck him once again with the EMR. The charge was stronger this time and the blond doubled over slightly, allowing the tip of his sword to falter and touch to the ground.

"It is time" Reno said in a slightly shaky voice. With the remainder of his strength he picked himself up and ran to the side of the platform. Taking a second to glance over he launched himself over the railings.

The helicopter was there and it was waiting for him. Tseng was standing on the sidecar of the helicopter. He grabbed the red head as he fell. He was faint and bleeding heavily, his head rested on Tseng's shoulder as though he no longer had the strength to keep it upright. Tseng was concerned, just what had happened up there?

"…Bloody… spiky-headed…bastard…" he gasped, gripping with a bloody hand on the lapel of Tseng's suit. Tseng helped the red head into the cock pit and placed him in the seat that had formerly been his own. The red head had fainted. Tseng looked at his co worker with a kind of fatherly tenderness. He hated seeing his team mates in this state.

"Michiyo take her up, I want to see who it was that has done this" she didn't respond. She was staring at the red head, her shock evident on her face, her mouth soundlessly forming words he could not make out.

"Michiyo" he said in a soft yet nonetheless firm voice. She looked up.

"We need to go up there." his eyes never left hers. Taking a deep breath she nodded, brought the joy stick back causing the helicopter to rise once again.

As soon as Tseng was able too see onto the platform he could see exactly what had taken place. There was a lot of blood staining the platform. Three people stood there. The girl looked shaky, but was otherwise fervently encouraging a spiky blond haired man as he tried to disarm the bomb. Another man stood at the side observing what was going on. He too seemed anxious and wanted the bomb disarmed.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Tseng called over to them

"Only Shin-Ra executives can arm and disarm an 'Emergency Plate Release' system. It'll blow up if just any idiot touches it." his voice was calm, professional.

"Stop it! Please!" Tifa shouted back to him, her eyes were full of pleading. Tseng shook his head sadly. _'Had you not just half killed one of my friends, I may have been more sympathetic'_

"No can do. Once it's been started its no easy task disarming it again" he replied. Barret pulled Tifa behind him:  
"You bastard…" he began firing at the helicopter.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" he pointed to the side of him

"Wouldn't want me to hurt our special guest now, would we". Laying in a groggy bundle in the side car was Aeris. Slowly she lifted her head.

"Its ok, she's safe" Aeris replied. Tseng slapped her. Though he didn't really want to

hurt her, he had a part to play here.

"Aeris" Tifa shouted as she ran towards her.

"It's ok! Just get out of here!" she shouted back. The helicopter started to rise just as the bomb went off. The helicopter swerved expertly between the falling debris, at a high speed, all the while retaining its balance. _'She really is a good pilot'_ Tseng thought as he pulled himself and Aeris into the back of the moving helicopter.


	6. Chapter 6

_**DISCLAIMER: **_I do not own the plotline or any of the characters in this story (except from those that I personally made up). I do not claim any form of copywrite etc on this piece of work._**  
**_

_**Chapter 6: The Aftermath…**_

Rude was getting bored. There was nothing here, just like at the last rector! He lifted a twisted, melted piece of metal which he guessed was probably once a part of a barrier or a set of steps. He didn't know why he was here anymore. Hadn't they found out who and where they were? As he threw the pipe to the side his PHS went off. He pulled it from his pocket.

"… Hello?" a shaky female voice came over the line.

"…Rude, you there?" the voice came again.

"Yes, I am. What's the matter Michiyo?" he was concerned.

"…Tseng needs you to come back. Needs you to come to-" she broke off. Rude could hear the woman taking a deep breath. After she regained a little composure she continued:

"…needs you to come to the infirmary… as quickly as you can." Rude had already begun to run back to the sleek black helicopter

"Michiyo, what happened?" he asked there was no answer from the other line. He asked again but still there was no answer. He brought the phone down from his ear, he had lost his signal, the phone had disconnected itself. He'd have to wait till he got back now.

As soon as he landed the helicopter, Rude ran full pace towards the door. His curiosity had consumed him and, more than anything, he wanted to know what had Michiyo so worked up. There was a voice nagging him in the back of his head telling him something had happened to his partner, the feeling was getting stronger and stronger as he ran along the corridors. Turning the corner onto the infirmary wing, his eye caught onto a man and long haired woman. He hurried over to them.

"What happened?" he said as he walked up to his boss and the woman. Michiyo remained silent, but her expression said a lot, there was so much pain there. The red head's blood had dried completely on the lapel of Tseng's suit and sat as a reminder of what had happened earlier. Tseng said:  
"We had an incident." sighing he added

"Michiyo, you have a mission now." she hesitated

"Don't worry I'll let you know if anything changes." she nodded and quietly left the two men behind. Tseng watched her go down the corridor. He sighed again

"Didn't want her getting upset again" Rude looked puzzled.

"Reno was taken down." this shocked Rude.

"What happened?" Rude asked again, for what may have been the thousandth time for all he knew. Tseng told him all he knew. Rude listened on silently. He took in all that Tseng said. Once Tseng had finished his story Rude asked:  
"So what now?" his voice remained emotionless, however, inside he felt both anger and sadness.

"He's not long out of surgery, but we can see him whenever."

They walked into the small, impeccably clean hospital room and over to the bed. Rude couldn't help but notice that there was an unnatural calmness about his red headed partner as he lay quite still in the bed. His face was paler than usual, there wasn't even a smile on his lips. His red hair had been washed to remove any excess blood and now lay, slightly damp, around his face. He was breathing lightly. Both arms were above the blanket. His right was connected to a blood drip, the left was heavily bandaged. Tseng pushed the red head's hair away from his face. Slowly he exhaled a great breath. Turning to Rude he said

"I have to be somewhere soon, meeting a new rookie, can you let me know if anything changes?" Rude nodded. With that Tseng left the room. Rude sat in the empty seat next to Reno. From the inside pocket of his jacket he pulled out a small book and started to read. He must have sat for about an hour before there was any form of movement beside him. Reno had come around.

The red head emitted a low groan as the light passed through his partially opened eyelids, quickly he shut his eyes again. He felt stiff, drained and heavy. His eyes had begun to adjust to the light and so once again he opened them. He peered around the room, this definitely wasn't the same place as he was when he passed out. He looked to his side. Rude was dozing; he held a book but his eyes were closed, his breathing calm and steady. A small smirk played on Reno's lips, it wasn't like his partner to sleep on the job. He tried to raise his left arm, a sharp pain caused him to wince and grit his teeth, but nonetheless he continued to move it. He brought his arm around to the cabinet beside him. He fumbled around looking for something that he could throw at his bald partner. His fingers came across the small rubber ball that he was carrying around. _'Perfect'_. He lifted the ball into his hand and slowly brought his it back to his chest. He looked back at his partner. Rude hadn't stirred the whole time. He smirked again. Transferring the ball to his right hand, he threw it with a small flick of his wrist.

As if anticipating what the red head had in mind, Rude easily caught the ball.

"Aw man, you spoiled my fun" Reno said in a voice as low as a whisper, a playful pout playing on his face. He tried to sit up.

"You made it obvious" Rude replied, peering over his sunglasses. A small smile played in Rude's lips as he watched his partner wince in pain, then shrink back down beneath the blanket.

"Its comfier here actually" Reno said, as if to himself, a weak smile on his face. Rude sighed and shook his head.

"How are you feeling?" Rude asked his red headed partner. Reno stared at his, was he serious? It was obvious he wasn't good. He shrugged slightly

"Heh, I've never felt better" he said sarcastically. Rude shook his head again. Even in a sorry state, his partner was still a handful.

Rude's PHS rung again. He lifted his phone from the cabinet beside him. He had placed it there just in case he had to contact his boss quickly. Flipping open the phone he brought it to his ear.

"Hello?" he paused and waited for a reply. None came.

"Hello?" he repeated once again, his voice slightly louder. Reno looked curiously at his partner. Rude shrugged, got up and walked towards the window, phone still at his ear. He again repeated his greeting but still there was no reply. He brought the phone down from his ear. Looking at the screen he noticed he was still connected to whoever was on the other end. He found it a little unnerving that there was someone on the other line and they weren't speaking and so he closed over the little phone and looked out of the window. It was dark outside. The fog and grime emitted from the reactors blocked the suns rays from reaching the surface of the plate on which they lived.

"So… who was it?" Reno's voice came quietly from behind. Rude kept his back turned from his partner. He shrugged his shoulders. His phone was still in his hand. Flipping it open again he checked his received calls log. The number hadn't been recognised. Rude felt a small shiver pass down his spine. Now that really was unnerving. The phone went off again. On the display the name of his superior was displayed. Accepting the call he brought the phone again up to his ear.

"…Hello?"

"Why the hesitation?" Tseng asked.

"Uh, never mind." Rude said. There was a small pause on the other end. Rude heard Tseng's breathing on the other end and thought instantly of the other call.

"Anyway, has anything changed?" Tseng sounded concerned.

"Well…" he paused "He's awake. Rude looked over to his partner. Reno looked confused. Rude mouthed their bosses name to him. The red head appeared to relax slightly.

"Uh huh. Is there anything else?" Tseng sounded generally relieved.

"Nope, he's still a handful." Rude smirked as he looked over at his partner. Reno had a look of mock indignation pasted to his face. Tseng chuckled

"Well that's good to hear. I'll becoming in with the new rookie. She'll need to meet you anyway seeing as she will be standing in for Reno till he's fit for work again."

"Understood" and he closed over his phone again. Rude sat down next to his partner again.

"Tseng's coming in." the red head nodded but remained silent. Rude couldn't help but notice that his partner looked exhausted. His eyes were only half open and he was breathing heavily. Reno was about the only person Rude had ever developed a strong relationship with and so it pained him to see his partner in this way.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7: Elena.**_

Tseng walked briskly through the parking lot. His footsteps echoed in the large empty space. The only other sound was the sound of tentative footsteps following him. Walking a few paces behind was a young woman. She was about a head and shoulders smaller than Tseng with blonde hair and brown eyes. Her eyes darted around as she struggled to take in every aspect of the surrounding area. She was desperately looking for a landmark, something of use, that would be of help to her if she was to ever come here on her own… to stop her from getting lost. This was the new rookie. Her name was Elena. As nervous as she was to be meeting her new co-workers, she was just as excited. She had been looking forward to this for a long time. It was finally her time to shine, her turn to show everyone she could do this just as well as her sister could. Quickly they walked up the stone steps to the infirmary wing. _'Thank goodness'_ Elena thought. They had walked a good distance from the training facility, located just a little bit away from the main building itself.

Stepping on to the infirmary corridor, Tseng paused. Elena wasn't really paying attention and almost walked into him.

"What's the matter?" she asked tentatively. Tseng turned around slowly

"Hmm?" he looked at the rookie. Noticing she looked a little worried he smiled warmly at her. She face flushed at the sight of his smile.

"What's wrong?" Tseng asked, turning around so that the young woman could compose herself once again

"Um… I-it's nothing… I j-just wondered why y-you had stopped. T-that's all…" she trailed off.

"… No reason." he replied. His answer was unconvincing but he hadn't wanted to tell her and so she held her tongue.

There was someone there, he could sense them. He shook his head slightly attempting to clear a feeling of unease that had risen in his chest and once again began to walk down the corridor. He raised his hand to the door knob and slowly turned it. Pushing the door open at an even pace he looked around the room. Finally his eyes rested on his two companions. Rude had once again taken out his book, but appeared to be taking very little interest in it. Whereas Reno; though awake; appeared to just be staring in the general direction of the window, his eyes clouded over, not actually taking anything in. Tseng ushered Elena into the room and closed the door with a snap. Both men jumped slightly, the action causing Reno to wince in pain.

"Dammit" he hissed. Their attention turned to the Wutain. Reno stared coldly at his boss, as if he was blaming Tseng for this pain, almost daring him to close the door loudly again.

"Nice to see your back with us, Reno." Tseng said warm-heartedly. His comment was replied to with a slight shrug of the shoulders as the red head's attention drifted elsewhere once again. Tseng was not put out by the red heads actions, on the contrary they were quite normal which in turn made him smile that little bit more.

"Anyway" he begun "This is the new rookie who will be standing in for you, Reno, whilst you are here. Her name is Elena" both men looked up. Rude was surprised, a woman. Though it wasn't unusual that women joined the ranks, it would feel strange being teamed with a woman, seeing as he had been teamed with a man for so long. Nonetheless, he gave Elena a courteous nod before going back to his book.

Elena was blushing, she had never been so embarrassed before this. She couldn't understand completely why she was embarrassed. There was really no reason to be, she was only meeting new team mates. But was that the only reason for this sudden embarrassment? Or was there something more? The more she thought about it, the more confused she became. She began looking around the room in an attempt to lessen the redness in her face. Something outside the window caught her attention. It happened only as her eyes drifted over the area surrounding the window, but for a brief second, she thought she could see someone staring right into the window. Looking for a second time she noticed whoever it was, was no longer there.

"What's up?" the soft voice of her supervisor came from behind her. She turned slowly to face him, not willing to take her eyes off of the window for fear that whoever it was that was outside of the window came back.

"It's nothing, just thought I saw something that's all… I'm just tired I guess…" she trailed off again. Something in Tseng's expression told her a different story.

"Uh… Sir?" Elena was looking worried, the colour raising in her face. Rude was looking up from his book. Reno was gazing over with obvious amusement, this, to him, could become some great blackmail material in the future.

"Hmm, oh its nothing." Tseng said quietly. A nurse walked into the room. Looking up she gasped;

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" all four pairs of eyes were on her. An uncomfortable silence fell over the entire room.

"Um… I-I need to check over him now." her head tilted in the direction of Reno. She opened her mouth as if to say something else

"Say no more." Tseng said calmly a gentle smile on his lips "We're just about to leave anyway." he subtly beckoned for the others to follow.

Rude prised himself up off of the chair. How long exactly had he been sitting there? He wondered to himself. The comfortableness of the chair was making him reluctant to move. Nonetheless he got up and walked out of the door.

Tseng and Elena walked a little ahead of Rude. It was almost completely silent, all that could be heard was their footsteps and; if you listened carefully enough; their breathing.

"The Ancient is safely locked away in the containment units in the science departments." Tseng spoke carefully to the newbie, perhaps he was also speaking to Rude, but he never noticed, his mind was elsewhere.

"Rude?… Hello?!" Tseng said

"Are you even listening?!" Tseng's voice was stern. Rude snapped suddenly out of his stupor.

"Huh?… oh, sorry." Rude mumbled quietly. Tseng shook his head slowly.

"Never mind, just listen. OK?" there was a small amount of annoyance in his superior's voice, but for some reason it seemed as if it was masking something else.

"There is no doubt that the one named 'Cloud' and the remaining members of the faction 'AVALANCHE' will want the Ancient back. We will have to keep a careful eye on her cell."

"Uh, sir. From what you have told me, surely there was no way that they could have gotten off of that tower alive." Rude exclaimed.

"They have been sighted at slum level." This shocked Rude. They were like cockroaches, almost impossible to kill and, what was worse, they always came back!.

The mission was an easy one. They had finished it quickly and was on their way back to HQ. Seated in the pilot's seat of yet another sleek unmarked helicopter, this time however it was in a shade of deep purple. Michiyo liked this copter. Not only because it was her favourite colour, but also because it was the helicopter she was trained in. she sat in silence staring out of the windscreen. Next to her was her partner. She too was looking out of the windscreen. She had shoulder length blond hair with blue and red streaks and blue eyes. She was also humming a little tune to herself.

"Rox, Could you please stop?" Michiyo asked quietly. Roxy just looked at her partner, somewhat confused.

"Stop what Mich?"

"Humming." Roxy had noticed that her partner wasn't quite right today. She had even pressed her for answers before the mission had even started, but Michiyo relinquished no answers which ultimately caused Roxy to give up.

"Will if you tell me what's up" she replied, sticking her tongue out at her stormy faced partner. Michiyo just sighed and continued looking out of the windscreen. She didn't even notice that her PHS was ringing.

"Uh, Mich?"

"What?!"

"Um... Your phone's ringing." Michiyo gave her partner a shaky smile and slid her PHS out of her pocket. She brought the phone up to eye level. It was Tseng's name on the little screen. Her heart was thumping. It no longer felt as though it was in her chest, rather it felt like it had travelled up to he throat. Taking a deep breath she answered it.

"Hello?" her voice quivered a little

"Ah, Michiyo, finally. Was about to call Roxy there to see if you were alive." his voice sounded a little lighter than it was before she had left of her mission.

"Anyway, I thought I would give you a status update, like I said I would"


End file.
